Identify problem of a company
The main reason that will make customers to visit a convenience store is because of its efficiency and speed. Most of the customers are usually busy and therefore do not want to spend much time queuing while doing shopping. It is for this reason that there is dire need to upgrade the cash register. To increase efficiency among the staff and enhance good communication between the staff, the vendors and the store owners, there is need to update the point of sale system (Stephen, 2008). The system is supposed to provide the staff with an easy time while doing their daily tasks such as controlling the stock help them find out more about the products and also makes the staff work as a team and therefore increase their efficiency. The staff should be trained to use the point of sale systems in order to increase their efficiency. They should be made to understand that the more customers they serve the more money the business makes and at a much less time than the old cash register.
Here is a time table of how events should follow in the efforts to implement the solution. The point of sale system should therefore be the first one to implement. Once the systems are fully put in place, the second thing is to make sure that the systems are installed with the right software. Depending on the nature of the business establishment, customized software may be needed. It is therefore important to check if the systems allows for customization. At this point, the systems should be fed with all the details that the company needs to track from stock, sales, customer loyalty, product information, product theft and many more. Training the staff on how to use the point of sale system should be the next thing. Training is aimed at familiarizing the employees with the advantages of using the point of sale system over the cash register. Training of the staff should be given sufficient time to make sure they capture the important details.Once the employees are conversant with the important details of the point of sale system, some extra time should be set aside for tests. The staff should be made aware that the point of sale systems is supposed to make their work easier and not hard. They should therefore be made to understand that the less time they spend serving a customer the better for the company. It is therefore expected that after the training, the staff members are going to be more efficient than before. Once the evaluation on using the point of sale system is complete, the next thing is now to fully implement the systems in the business. The staff can now start using the point of sale systems. There are various advantages associated with point of sale systems.
The point of sale will increase the information provided to the customers concerning the products. It is possible for the customers to get all the information needed about any product and even suggest more products available on the shelves and thus giving the customer a more wide range of products to choose from (Oricchio, 2008).
Good point of sale system will guarantee a good customer service. The customers are served quickly and all the information needed on the products is provided. It also increases the ease to control the stock. The point of sale system only needs to be equipped with software that is supposed to automatically record the updates on the stock count (Oricchio, 2008). This will ensure that there is a reliable stock control. The point of sale system can also be upgraded to a point that it is able to detect stolen goods. The point of sale system can be linked to the security system and will be able to detect a stolen good once it is taken out of the door marked unsold by the system (Oricchio, 2008). It also solves the likelihood of a customer who intends to steal from using a question as a ploy to distract a member of the staff and therefore takes a product as the staff member goes to check.
More importantly, the upgraded point of sale will help in identifying those staff members who need more training contrary to the cash register. The point of sale system provides information regarding the sales that a specific staff has made at the end of the day and will therefore be important to identify how much time a staff spends to attend to a customer and whether the staff member needs more training to help him or her reach the quotas or peak efficiency (Stephen, 2008).
The point of sale systems is supposed to reduce losses and maximize profits. However, monitoring and evaluation of the success after the implementation of the point of sale system is also very important. Self evaluation among the employees should be encouraged among the employees even before the retail manager leaves the desk to do so. Good use of the point of sale system is supposed to help detect when something has gone wrong or is about to and therefore take the right measures immediately. It is therefore important to evaluate if the entire staff are conversant with the point of sale systems. The point of sale systems is supposed to make the work easier and not hard for the employees. The point of sale systems should be adapted to the type of business establishment (Leung, 2007). One way to know if the point of sale system is ideal for the business is to evaluate the changes identified since its implementation. It is important to ask questions like, have the sales gone up or down? How about the customers, are they efficiently served or not? Is communication more effective among the employees, vendors and the store owner? It is also important to have an information technology expert check the point of sales system’s reliability regularly to avoid surprises when they are in use.
References
Oricchio, R. (2008). Still Have a Cash Register? It’s Time to Upgrade. International Trade Administration, NY: New York
Leung. E. (2007). 6 Reasons to Upgrade Your Cash and Stock Register System. Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Hong Kong
Stephen, R. (2008). Ways To Make The Cash Register Ring . Washington, DC
